75 years of save the children, january 2007

8/9/2019 75 Years of Save the Children, January 2007

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/75-years-of-save-the-children-january-2007 1/8

Creating lasting, positive change in the lives of children in need in the United States

and around the world

75 YEARS OF

SAVE THE CHILDREN



Children Deserve a Better World

Eglantyne Jebb founded the Save the Children Fund in England in

1919 to aid children in war-ravaged central Europe. “We cannot leave

defenseless children anywhere exposed to ruin – moral or physical,”

she said. “We cannot run the risk that they should weep, starve, despair

and die, with never a hand stretched out to help them. It is essential

that we should put the world in order. We must develop a powerful

international organization for child saving which would extend its

ramifications to the remotest corners of the globe.”



Save the Children USA marks its 75th year of service to children

in 2007 – an achievement well worth celebrating.

The history of Save the Children is more than the story of an

agency’s growth from a small country health unit to one of the world’s

leading international relief and development organizations. It is the

story of millions of people in thousands of communities around the

world working together to attack the complex problems of poverty. It isthe story of children given the chance to live full and healthy lives – a

chance that they might not have had if it weren’t for Save the Children.

Seventy-five years ago in 1932, a group of forward-thinking

individuals were inspired by the vision of Eglantyne Jebb to establish

Save the Children in the United States. Their immediate goal was to

help the children and families struggling to survive during the Great

Depression in the rugged mountains of Appalachia. At the heart of

Save the Children’s philosophy, then and now, have been the conceptsof self-help and self-reliance – the belief that development is a process

by which people take charge of their own lives.

Today, in more than 50 countries, including the United States,

Save the Children USA is transforming children’s lives by providing

families and communities with the tools they need to break the cycle

of poverty. While our programs are diverse, our mission is singular –

to create lasting, positive change in the lives of children in need in the

United States and around the world.Save the Children sees its role as that of a catalyst in community

evolution. We favor a multi-disciplinary approach, acknowledging that

the problems we address – poverty, illiteracy, poor health – are complex

and interrelated. Innovation and experience have been the keys to

Save the Children’s success.

In partnership with individuals, foundations, corporations,

governments, national and international agencies, our programs focus

on results and proven solutions. The proud history of Save the Children

would be impossible without the enormous generosity of these many

supporters. We look forward to your continued commitment as we

work to ensure that the 21st century offers positive change and

opportunity for children everywhere.

75 Years of Service to Children



Save the Children is proud to have played a role in some

unprecedented global successes for children in recent decades.

Today…

Half as many children under age 5 die each year as compared

to 1960.

Immunization prevents 2 million child deaths a year.

Most of the world is polio free.

The number of children who can read and write has increased

by nearly 50 percent.

But still, every day…

Almost 30,000 children under age 5 die from preventable causes,

such as diarrhea, malaria, pneumonia and malnutrition.

77 million children of primary-school age – the majority of them

girls – are not attending school.

More than 600 million children in the developing world live in

families that must survive on less than $1 a day.

1 in 6 children in the United States lives in poverty.

Plus, new challenges threaten advances made so far…

HIV and AIDS have already jeopardized the well-being of tens

of millions of children in the developing world and could reverse

decades of progress in economic and social development.

Millions of children live in places where wars and natural disasters

force them to witness and endure unspeakable horrors. If children

survive, they often suffer physical and emotional trauma that can

haunt them the rest of their lives.

75 Years of Progress for Children



Fighting Hunger and

Illiteracy in Rural America

In the winter of 1932, a group of

concerned business people gathered

in New York City to respond to the

needs of children in Appalachia

hit hard by the Great Depression.

Save the Children USA began

with a hot lunch program for

undernourished schoolchildren inHarlan County, Kentucky. The

result was an almost immediate

rise in attendance and academic

achievement. The program became

a model for the federal school

lunch program.

In its first decade, Save the

Children’s programs expanded

to Tennessee, North Carolina,

Mississippi and Missouri with the

distribution of food, clothing and

school supplies and the promotion

of self-help gardening and canning

projects.

Protecting Children

During World War II

Individual child sponsorship

began in response to the plight of

children caught in the crossfire of

the second world war in Europe,

prompting Save the Children to

expand its programs overseas.

Save the Children’s first annual“Bundle Days” campaign was

organized in Knoxville, Tennessee,

where volunteers refurbished and

distributed donated clothing to

needy children in the United

States and war-affected Europe.

Contributing to

Post–WWII Rebuilding

Many children born overseas in

the wake of World War II, like

these in France, lacked adequate

shelter, nutrition, health care

and schooling, problems that

Save the Children addressed

through its sponsorship programs.

By the time the United Nations

adopted the Declaration on the

Rights of the Child in 1959,

Save the Children USA

had expanded its education and

farming programs to France,

Holland, Italy, West Germany,

Austria, Finland, Greece,

Lebanon and South Korea.

1930

s 194

0

s 1950s



Protecting Children in

Emergencies

With lessons learned in protecting

children during previous armed

conflicts, Save the Children took

its expertise to Bosnia during the

Balkan wars, providing an outlet

for emotions and an oasis of

normalcy for troubled young

children.

Save the Children was the

first international NGO allowed

back on the ground in Vietnam

after the fall of Saigon. We

pioneered the “positive deviance”

approach to fighting malnutrition

and promoting healthy behaviors

in poor communities in Vietnam

and elsewhere.

By the end of the decade, total

revenues were almost $115 million.

Worldwide Solutions

for Children

Despite changes in the nature

of modern wars and other

emergencies, Save the Children’s

mission – to create lasting, positive

change in the lives of children in

need – remains the same, from

war-torn Afghanistan to tsunami-

stricken Indonesia to the UnitedStates coastal areas hit by

Hurricane Katrina.

For the first time in the almost 90-

year history of the movement, all

28 International Save the Children

Alliance members joined together

to call on national governments,

donor countries and international

agencies to do more to help

children caught in war and

conflict. The five-year Rewrite the

Future initiative is working to help

40 million children in conflict-

affected areas gain access to quality

education.

Meanwhile, the annual State of

the World’s Mothers report raised

global awareness and commitment

to do more to save the lives of

mothers and children in the

developing world. The 2006

report highlighted the cutting-

edge Saving Newborn Lives initiative, which has inspired

grants totaling $110 million

from the Bill & Melinda Gates

Foundation.

By 2006, Save the Children’s

revenues had grown to more

than $350 million as its

programs continued to expand

in the United States and in more

than 50 countries worldwide.

1990

s 20

0

0

s

75 YEARS OF

SAVE THE CHILDREN



Save the Children

Wilton Road

Westport, Connecticut

...

To learn more about our

programs to help children in

need around the world, go to:

www.savethechildren.org

75 years of save the children, january 2007

Documents